1. Field of the Invention
The invention concerns a wiper for a windshield wiper device for the cleaning of a windshield on a vehicle. Additionally, the invention concerns a completely preassembled exchange kit for such a wiper.
2. Description of the Art
A wiper and an exchange kit are already known from EP 0 714 820 Al. On this wiper the exchangeable wiper blade is made out of elastic, rubber-like material and is retained with its head strip in the retaining claws of an extended segmented retaining structure, with the retaining claws gripping partially around the head trip and engaging into longitudinal grooves that are configured on the longitudinal sides of the head strip, opposite from each other. The wiper blade is locked into place longitudinally by means of a spring bracket that is made out of sheet metal and attached to one end of the head strip. Part of this spring bracket is a flat elastic bendable snap-arm that extends from a base part of the spring bracket on the back of the head strip in a longitudinal direction, traversing the correlated retaining claw of the retaining structure and engaging with a hook behind the retaining claw. The hook is formed by the end of the snap-arm that is bent backward and up in the shape of a V, forming a steep angle with the remainder of the snap hook. The front side of the hook interacts as a stop with the internal front side of the retaining claw of the retaining structure. In an advantageously simple manner, a wiper is completed as a preassembled exchange kit by attaching a spring rail and a spring bracket that is attached to the head strip which can be attached to the retaining structure by insertion in a longitudinal direction into the claws of the retaining structure. The arm of the spring bracket that bears a hook snaps automatically into the retaining claw of the retaining structure under the impact of the insertion force.
However, the inevitable later disassembly of the wiper blade that must be replaced becomes a problem when a new wiper blade or a new exchange kit must be installed. In a manual operation, the hook or the snap-arm of the spring bracket that is configured into a hook must be bent against its elastic reset force in order to disengage the locking therebetween. Simultaneously, the wiper blade must then be extracted from the retaining claws of the retaining structure. Because the snap-arm is located between the backside of the head strip and the lower side of the retaining structure, it is difficult to obtain access to the snap-arm to be disengaged. Also, the hook itself, because of the plastic molded shape of the V-shaped bend, is hard to compress any further against its elastic restoring force. A large amount of force is needed in order to disengage the longitudinal locking of the wiper blade or of the exchange kit from the retaining structure. This is why such manipulation, which can only be conducted with a tool, is of some difficulty for the person conducting it, and requires a degree of mechanical dexterity.
It is the task of the invention to improve a wiper of the initially described type in a manner that makes both its disassembly and assembly easier when exchanging the wiper blade or the exchange kit such that mechanical dexterity is not required on the part of the person conducting the work. In addition, a simple way to handle the exchange kit for a wiper blade is to be provided.